These 12 Illinois Restaurants Make The List Of America’s 100 Best

If you live in Illinois, you already know there are a few things you're going to have to leave the state to enjoy.

Mountains, ocean beaches, desert sand dunes, and those incredible California redwood forests come to mind. But if food is your thing, the good news is that you don't have to go anywhere else but Illinois to enjoy some of the best restaurants in America.

OpenTable has released its list of the Top 100 Restaurants in America for 2026, and Illinois landed an impressive 12 spots.

Even better, for your travel convenience, all 12 are right in Chicago.

a plate of food on a table with a fork and knife

The Annual List Is Based On More Than 11 Million Verified Diner Reviews Along With Other Measurements

Open Table also looked at restaurant ratings, reservation demand, and 5-star reviews. So, here are the Illinois restaurants that made the list (alphabetically, not ranked first to twelfth):

• Daisies
• Ever
• Gibsons Italia
• Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab
• Kasama
• Le Colonial
• Lula Cafe
• Mon Ami Gabi
• North Pond
• PIZZ'AMICI
• RL Restaurant
• Zarella Pizzeria & Taverna

That's quite a collection, representing everything from Italian and French-inspired dining to seafood, steakhouses, Filipino cuisine, and pizza.

smoked dishes

Illinois Actually Did Better Than Many States On The List

Only California's 19 spots had more, while Chicago's 12 put it among the country's major dining destinations.

And while not everyone is going to jump in the car and drive to Chicago for dinner, it's still pretty nice knowing that some of the country's most celebrated dining experiences are just a road trip away for those of us in Northern Illinois.

Of course, you might have to save up a little, make a reservation, and maybe even put on something nicer than your favorite Beef-A-Roo sweatshirt.

But hey, good food is worth a little effort.

You can check out all 100 restaurants, including the Illinois selections, at OpenTable.com.